Shobhan can stop dreaming; no gold in Unnao fort

Shobhan can stop dreaming; no gold in Unnao fort

After weeks of digging, the Archaeological Survey of India has stopped hunting for gold in Raja Ram Bux Singh's fort near Daundia Kheda village, in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.

The excavation had begun on October 18 after a seer, Shobhan Sarkar, dreamt about 1,000 tonnes of gold buried under the ruins of the 19th century fort.

The ASI announced on Tuesday that there was no hidden gold in Unnao.

Remnants of a brick wall and other debris were found during the excavation, but not treasure.

Shobhan Sarkar had a dream about presence of a huge quantity of gold and approached his devotee, union Minister of State for Agriculture Charan Das Mahant, and the PMO, following which the survey and excavation were undertaken.

Preliminary findings suggested presence of "some metal underneath the earth", following which ASI teams decided to proceed with the excavation.

Shobhan can stop dreaming; no gold in Unnao fort

All along the duration of the dig, Sarkar's closet disciple and his official representative Omji Maharaj continued to stick to his claim -- “The baba cannot be wrong; there is 1000 tons of gold buried here and once it is recovered, India will be in a position to give strength to its falling rupee in terms of the dollar.”

“The question of disputing Baba’s dream does not arise; If the Baba was not confident, he would not have shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to say that he was willing to be tried for sedition in case his prediction did not come true,” declared Om Ji, who runs an ashram in Fatehpur, about 50 km apart.